It has a collection of boutique shops as well as a relaxed atmosphere and spaces for eating and drinking.

Just a few minutes away is the more recently-built Thistles Stirling shopping centre, which houses more than 90 big brand and speciality shops.

The city is also the gateway to the Trossachs with its scenic mountains and lochs.

Heading towards Callander, a popular destination in any tour of the Trossachs, families may find it hard to pass Blair Drummond without a visit.

The safari park – a family favourite since it opened in 1970 – is home to animals from all over the world. Lions, elephants, ostriches, zebras and rhinoceroses are just a few of the exotic beasts on its reserves.

There is a chance to celebrate the lemur on August 18 and 19 as the park hosts a weekend focused on the Madagascan animal.

Beyond Blair Drummond you enter the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park – 720 square miles of stunning landscape to explore.

A favourite drive from Callander takes you past lochs Venachar and Achray before climbing through the trees to the Lodge Forest Visitor Centre above one of the Trossachs’ other tourist hubs, Aberfoyle.

The Duke’s Pass was built by the Duke of Montrose in the 19th century to improve access to his estate, and was later upgraded to accommodate Victorian tourists.

One of Scotland’s most distinctive landmarks – the Wallace Monument – is heading for a milestone.

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the 220ft tower, which rewards those who climb its 246 steps with a breathtaking panorama of central Scotland.

The National Wallace Monument’s Hall of Heroes celebrates the lives and legacies of some of Scotland’s most famous figures, such as Robert the Bruce, James Watt, Hugh Miller and Robert Burns.

Soon to stand proudly alongside the busts of 16 historic men are those of Scottish heroines Mary Slessor, a missionary, and Maggie Keswick Jencks, co-founder of the Maggie’s Centres.

Their stories will feature alongside those of other women such as Dorothée Pullinger, founding member of the Women’s Engineering Society, and artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.

The monument overlooks the site of the 13th-century Battle of Stirling Bridge, which was part of the Scottish Wars of Independence and where William Wallace and Andrew de Moray successfully led an army against the English. Wallace’s sword can now be viewed in the Hall of Heroes.

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